28 Days
by Thirty Seven
Summary: Ken bets that Yohji wouldn't be able to seduce Ran in a month.
1. Prologue

Title: Prologue  
Author/Artist: Kirameki  
Pairing: Kudoh Yohji x Fujimiya Ran  
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz  
Theme: #26 "If only I could make you mine"  
Disclaimer: Not our boys. Boys belong to Koyasu Takehito and some other people. :3  
Note: 'Tis an AU. Expect it to be wacky.

* * *

"So, Yohji. What do you think?"

Kudoh Yohji stared blankly at his friend, Hidaka Ken, weighing his proposal. How the other boy knew about his infatuation with Ran, he couldn't begin to understand, but this could be the chance he was waiting for! "You're telling me that I won't be able to seduce Ran in a month?" He spoke condescendingly, "You're speaking to the master, Ken! You're on!"

Watching as Ken retreated from the room with a smirk on his face, he stood in silence, motionless. Yohji had never been one to back down from a dare, but this was a sensitive subject to him, and he found himself almost regretting he accepted. What if Ran rejected his advances, or worse, Ran **did** like him back and found out it was all about a stupid dare? He surely wouldn't appreciate that. It was now or never, Yohji repeated to himself over and over like a mantra; if he hadn't built up the courage to do it yet, now was the perfect time. But first, he had to straighten a little something out.

"Ken? Ken!" The boy in question didn't bother to turn away from the TV, but Yohji blocked his view by standing in between him and the TV. "If I win, what will you do?" He crossed his arms on his chest smugly, having just the perfect thing in mind.

Ken shrugged his shoulders and kept his view fixed on the TV, which was at the moment blocked by Yohji's crotch. "Whatever you want..." And as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he had never been sorrier in his life. "Not that... Oh no, oh no..." The taller boy just nodded his head smugly, smiling triumphantly over Ken.

"You just sealed your fate! You have to ask **FARFIE** out on a date if I win... and I'm **pretty** confident!" So he lied a bit; he wasn't that confident.

Yohji left a pleading Ken behind and walked down the hall, with the intention of returning to his room, only to find himself standing stupidly before Ran and Omi's room. He hated that their room was before his because each time he walked past it, he was reminded of the red-haired, sex-on-legs knockout and his unrequited love for him. But all that could change. "If only I could make you mine..." He reached to touch the door, but turned suddenly and ran away to the privacy of his room.

Inside his room, Yohji looked for the one thing that gave him solace on lonely nights: a picture of Ran he stole from Aya's album. Searching the back of his sock drawer, he found the picture neatly folded and took it out cautiously, opening it as he lay down on his bed. He observed it for a moment; it was taken in the flower shop they owned. In it, Ran held a few roses in his hands while a precious smile graced his face. Apparently he only smiled for his sister. Yohji hoped to change that soon.

"Goodnight and sweet dreams, Ran." Yohji kissed the picture tenderly and slipped it under his pillow, following his beloved into the land of dreams.


	2. Day One

Title: Day One - Wada Calcium CD3  
Author/Artist: Mei Zhu  
Pairing: Kudoh Yohji x Fujimiya Ran  
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz  
Theme: #28. Wada Calcium CD3  
Disclaimer: Not our boys. Boys belong to Koyasu Takehito and some other people.

* * *

"Please, Yohji-Kun!"

Yohji sighed as he looked past his trademark sunglasses at Omi. " _You_ have a break coming up, why don't _you_ go to the health store?"

"Because it's two hours away, Yohji, and by the time I get there, it'll be too late. Please, you're the only one who has a break that'll fit into the schedule." Normally, Omi's pleading look could melt away even the iciest of hearts; but Yohji was particularly tired that day and really did not want to make a four-hour trip to some health store to buy some sort of beauty product for the boy.

"Omi, I-"

"I'd go tomorrow," Omi said, a small pout forming on his lips. "But, Aya-Chan needs her medicine _today_." The last comment perked up Yohji's interest.

"Well," he said, finally pulling himself up from the couch. "I can't say no to a sickly girl, can I?" He stretched lazily and walked over to the large doors of the flower shop. As his hands touched the handle, he heard something outside and quickly slipped out to see what it was.

"Goodbye, Nagi-dearest," Schuldig's voice called out silkily. "Don't rush back too soon. Have fun and don't be afraid to stay a while longer." Yohji watched as a small boy ducked into a black car. As soon as the car pulled from the curbs, the German let out a whoop. "Alone at last, with the annoyance gone, we won't have any more things fly at our heads while we have hot, pass-" before he could finish his sentence, however, the Irish man next to him had shoved him brutally against the wall. If Farfarello had used any more strength, Yohji mused, there'd be a dent in the apartment's brick wall. Brad apparently thought the same, rolling his eyes at their perverted antics.

Turning to leave, Yohji caught the eyes of a very horrified Ken from the window of the flower shop. He smirked and winked at the younger man. _He looks fun_ he mouthed happily before throwing open the doors of his car.

The drive to the health store was utterly boring. In fact, the store _itself_ was boring. As Yohji walked in, he caught a strong sniff of herbs. He stopped in front of an empty counter, wondering what to do next.

"May I help you?" The voice startled him, and he looked down at the short, elderly woman hidden behind the counter.

"Um, yes," the place made even Yohji nervous. "I need to pick up something for Fujimiya Aya…"

The woman got up and turned wordlessly into a backroom, leaving Yohji all alone and surrounded by the horrible smell of herbs. Feeling listless, he walked around the small store, looking at the different types of medicine. He stopped, however, in front of a small case: Wada Calcium CD3. But it wasn't the calcium pills that _really_ caught Yohji's attention; it was the small, white bottle next to it. He picked up the little white bottle and turned it over in his hands, reading the tiny label: _Pills to enhance the-_

"Here are the medicines you ordered." The sudden sound made Yohji jump for the second time that day. He whipped around, suddenly feeling guilty. Quickly – and rather absentmindedly – he grabbed the calcium pills and slapped both bottles on the counter, turning an unusual shade of red.

"I'll take these as well." The old lady didn't say anything as Yohji paid for the medicine.

The ride home wasn't boring at all – Yohji had a lot of things to think about.

Before he got out of the car, Yohji emptied the bottle of calcium pills and hurriedly poured the _other_ pills in. He kissed the bottle for "good luck" and strode into the flower shop. And, to his wonderful luck, the first person he came across was the same red-haired man he had been thinking about. "Yo, Fujimiya," he called, trying to hide his smirk.

Ran looked up from the lilies he had been watering. "Yes…?" There was something oddly suspicious about Yohji. Then again, when had the older man ever been _normal_?

Yohji tossed Ran the small bottle he had been holding tightly onto. "You look a bit pale; maybe you could use some good ol' calcium pills. Wouldn't want to have weak bones, ne, Ran?" Then, he transitioned back to normal as if nothing out of the ordinary had been going on. "Oh, and here's Aya-Chan's medicine."

"Calcium pills?" Ran shrugged and popped one of the small pills into his mouth and took a drink from the bottle of water next to him. There was a small moment of awkward silence as they stared at each other. "Well," Ran finally said, breaking the silence. "What're you standing there for?"

Yohji exhaled, not having realized he had been holding his breath. _Maybe… it doesn't work that fast…_ but, that excuse wasn't plausible because he head read the entire label before coming into the shop. It was _supposed_ to work almost instantly. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked hopefully.

Ran cocked his head to one side. "What's with you today? You're all… _concerned_. It's not like you." He paused. "Then again, that last question sounded like you _wanted_ me to be in terrible pain or something." Yohji was left speechless and another awkward moment passed. "Well? Why are you still standing there, gawking at me? I'm _fine_, you know. Stop mothering me."

Feeling like a deflated balloon, Yohji made his way upstairs and completely missed seeing Ran spit a small, white pill into the pot of lilies next to him.


	3. Day Two

Title: Day Two - Space between dream and reality  
Author/Artist: Kirameki  
Pairing: Kudoh Yohji x Fujimiya Ran  
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz  
Theme: #6 "Space between dream and reality"  
Disclaimer: Not our boys. Boys belong to Koyasu Takehito and some other people. :3  
Note: 'Tis an AU. Expect it to be wacky.

* * *

"I'm beat…"

It had been a busy day down at the flower shop. Without counting the usual gaggle of high school girls Yohji humored every day, there were more flower arrangements to make and orders to deliver than on a normal day. Not to mention spending all day coming up with ideas to seduce Ran. Yes, it had been a tiring day.

Up the stairs and into his room Yohji trudged heavily, not bothering to pay attention to the disturbing sounds coming from their next-door neighbors' apartment; Schuldig and Farfarello were probably at it, again. They were louder this time, though. Maybe Brad had decided to join them. Shaking away unwanted mental images, he crashed down on the nearest bed –which happened to be Ken's- and thought of Ran, drifting asleep.

* * *

_"We'll miss you, Omi!" Yohji waved frantically at Omi as he slid inside a car, ready to leave on a trip. "You just enjoy yourself and stay longer if you want!" He watched anxiously as the car started and pulled from the curbs; as soon as it was out of sight, he cheered. "YES! Now Ran and I can have wild, passionate, se-" Yohji was cut short as Ran pushed him against the rough, brick wall of the apartment building and kissed him passionately. Ken just rolled his eyes, annoyed._

* * *

Ran, Omi and Ken sat together on the couch watching TV when they heard sounds coming from Yohji's room. "Do you think he's alright?" Omi asked, clearly concerned, "He's been up there an awful lot of time..."

"He's alright. Probably having a sex dream, the pervert." Ken added with a slight shrug of his shoulders, not really giving a shit. He wasn't going to miss his favorite show because Yohji was having a sex dream about Ran. But upon seeing Omi's puppy dog eyes, he let out a sigh and got up. "Fine, fine, I'll check up on him."

* * *

_Yohji pulled back from Ran breathless, and more than a little surprised. "Ran..." The other boy looked at him so passionately, conveying feelings to him without saying a word. "I love you, Ran." As useless as words were at the moment, Yohji couldn't keep himself from saying those three simple ones, and kissed him._

_Wait... Why was Ran resisting him now_

* * *

"GET OFF OF ME!"

Ran and Omi looked away from the TV and at each other. Omi jumped from the couch, followed by Ran, and up they went to investigate the source of the scream.

They reached the room just in time to see Ken break away from Yohji's embrace and slap him in the face. "PERVERT!"


	4. Day Three

Title: Day Three - "say ahh..."  
Author/Artist: Mei Zhu  
Pairing: Kudoh Yohji x Fujimiya Ran  
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz  
Theme: #18. "say ahh..."

Disclaimer: Not our boys. Boys belong to Koyasu Takehito and some other people.

* * *

Yohji grumbled to himself as he made his way down the stairs in the morning. One innocent - ok, maybe not-so-innocent - little kiss had ruined his entire life. Omi and Ran seem to think that he has some sort of _thing_ for Ken and Ken was too mad at him to speak.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he suddenly noticed that the entire shop was empty except for Ran who was bent over a plant. "Where is everyone?"

Ran looked up from the plant, looking pale. "Aya-Chan's at school, and Omi and Ken are making a delivery across town that'll take them most of the day." Before he even finished the sentence, however, Ran slumped over and dropped the pot of flowers he was holding.

Yohji, glad of his quick reflexes, managed to catch Ran before the younger man hit the ground but the pot of flowers weren't as fortunate and shattered into small pieces on the ground. _Please tell me this is a joke…_ he thought, looking around desperately. Having never really been around sick people, Yohji wasn't quite sure what to do.

Lucky for him, Omi had gone through a mad, we-need-to-be-safe stage a few days ago and had gone around the house forcing the others to pay attention to the safety procedures he had spent so much time laying out. Carefully lowering Ran to the ground, Yohji ran off to get the first-aid kit. Thank God for Omi's paranoia.

It took less than five seconds to locate the first-aid kit. Inside, Yohji found a small, folded piece of paper with various phone numbers and instructions laid out. If the situation wasn't so grave, he'd have been very amused… Placing the kit down onto the floor, Yohji bent down to pick up Ran – surprised at how light the younger man actually was. Snatching up the kit again, he ran upstairs before his mind could overcome his body; he may be a pervert, but he wasn't planning on groping a poor, defenseless, sick man. (Or, he _hoped_ he wasn't…)

Carefully, Yohji set Ran down onto his bed and scanned the small piece of paper. Following the specific instructions Omi had written down, he dug out a small thermometer from the bottom of the kit and tried to keep his mind on trying to _help_ Ran and not on the many places a thermometer could actually go.

He pulled out the thermometer moments later and compared the temperature on there to the list Omi had set out (thinking about how lucky he was that Omi was a complete freak). 99 degrees – to Yohji's great relief – meant he didn't have to carry Ran to the hospital. He stared down at the serene expression on the other man's face. Lightly brushing away a strand of stray hair, he leaned down for a small kiss. Perhaps his imagination was playing tricks on him – or maybe he just hadn't quite gotten over the dream from last night – but Yohji could have sworn that Ran kissed back.

* * *

Yohji carried a bowl of chicken soup upstairs around noontime to check up on Ran. As he opened the door, he found the other man wide awake and sitting up on the bed. He offered the bowl, wordlessly, to Ran.

"What _is_ that…?"

"Oh, shut up. Omi left instructions on what to make, so I made it." Yohji found himself slightly embarrassed at the disfigured soup and quickly tried to cover it up by lifting up a huge spoonful. "Say ah, Ran."

"I can feed myself." Ran snatched the bowl out of Yohji's hands, giving him a glare. The man was obviously not used to being sick _or_ being fed. He gave the soup a few prods with the spoon. "On second thought _you_ try it first."

"It's your fault for getting sick," Yohji defended, not really willing to try the soup. "I told you those calcium pills would help, but you didn't listen."

Ran wordlessly continued to stare down at the bowl for a few minutes before lifting a tiny spoonful and quickly shoving it into his mouth. Yohji watched eagerly for any sign of enjoyment. However, the look on Ran's face was anything _but_ joy. It seemed like eternity before the red-haired man forced himself to swallow. "It's… _interesting_…" he coughed.

"Oh, don't give me that crap." Yohji snatched the bowl from Ran's hands. "See if I ever make you anything again." As he stalked out of the room, he could have sworn he heard the other man mutter something that sounded close to "thank God…"


	5. Day Four

Title: Day Four – Radio/Cassette player  
Author/Artist: Kirameki  
Pairing: Kudoh Yohji x Fujimiya Ran  
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz  
Theme: #14 "Radio/Cassette player"  
Disclaimer: Not our boys. Boys belong to Koyasu Takehito and some other people. :3

Note: 'Tis an AU. Expect it to be wacky.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It's so, like, great to see you again!"

The woman had to almost scream to be heard over the pulsating dance music roaring inside the pub, late at night. Yohji had decided to go out with one of his old girlfriends just for fun... and because he needed to get away from what had happened in the last few days. It was frustrating. And what better way to cool down than with a one-night stand? Or not.

"Same here, baby!" He gave her a lewd up-and-down look, noticing just how skimpy the outfit she wore was for maybe the thousandth time that night. "You've lost some weight, right?" He remembered her being somewhat... bigger.

She giggled flirtatiously and with her hands at her waist, struck a pose. "Duh, Yohji! I used one of those, like, self-help tapes on losing weight! But, like, whatever. I wanna dance!" She grabbed Yohji's hand and dragged him to the dance floor.

"Sure..." And that's when it came to him. A _tape._ He was pretty sure Ran sometimes used one of those tape things, but for sleeping. The poor thing had trouble sleeping. _Not for long..._Yohji thought with a smirk. But at that moment, he couldn't be worrying about that. Not with her grabbing his ass.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_"You want to have wild, passionate sex with Yohji..."_

Except for its perverted message, the voice was calm and soothing, almost a lullaby. With a satisfied grin, Yohji stopped the recording and popped the cassette out of the old radio-cassette player he had found in his closet. Slipping it inside his pocket, he hid the player under the bed and nonchalantly exited his room, almost having a heart attack when he found himself face-to-face with Ran.

"RAN! Oh... Um..." Had he heard! Did he know of his plan! "What... What are you doing?" Yohji mentally slapped himself for sounding so suspicious. _Way to go..._

"I'm going to the bathroom." Ran stated, raising an eyebrow at Yohji's suspicious behavior. "What's wrong with you?" The older man was a complete wreck. But when was he ever normal?

Yohji chuckled, hoping he sounded normal. "There's nothing... wrong... with me..." He let out a sigh of relief as Ran simply shrugged his shoulders and moseyed on to the bathroom. _Close one..._ But the hard part was yet to come. He waited until Ran had closed the bathroom door to sneak into his room.

Once inside, he reminded himself to stay on track before he strayed from his... "mission". Yohji opened the nightstand's drawer and sure enough, found the tape Ran used in there. Taking out his own creation, he exchanged the tapes and left the room, careful not to let anyone see him coming out of Ran's room. Satisfied, Yohji went back into his room for a good night's sleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ran? Raaaaaaan?"

"Hm? Omi... what?"

"I can't sleep."

Ran let out a yawn and shifted slightly in his bed, but didn't bother to open his eyes. "Use the tape and let me sleep..." His voice was sleepy, and with another yawn, he resumed his sleep, unbothered.

And so did Omi. With the tape's help.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, Yohji woke up with a grin on his face. _Let's see how Ran is doing..._ After his morning ritual, he went downstairs and found the rest of the boys in the middle of breakfast. "Good morning!" Two boys turned to look at Yohji, puzzled by his cheerfulness. He was not a morning person.

"YOHJI!"

Now it was Yohji's turn to be puzzled. Oddly enough, the boy who was EXTREMELY excited about his arrival was not the one he had expected would be. Instead, he found Omi latched to him. Not Ran. Omi. Not Ran. **OMI**. What?

"IWANTYOULETSHAVEWILDPASSIONATESEX!"

This was not good.


	6. Day Five

Title: Day Five - News; Letter

Author/Artist: Mei Zhu

Pairing: Kudoh Yohji x Fujimiya Ran

Fandom: Weiss Kreuz

Theme: #2 news; letter

Disclaimer: Not our boys. Boys belong to Koyasu Takehito and some other people.

Note: I'm feeling angsty. This took forever to write... like, two whole months or something... I remember someone asking about the last chapter in a review we got, something about whether or not tapes like that actually existed. Yes, I believe they do exist. Unfortunately, I don't think they actually work. But by all means, test one out and tell me what happens.

----------

As Yohji awoke from his mid-day nap, he felt unusually confident. It had taken a lot of work, but he had managed to end up alone in the house with Ran.

It had been very fortunate for Yohji that a customer who lived a few hours away needed flowers for her wedding; even more fortunate that the weather was expected to be so bad, there'd be no way this trip would take less than 24 hours to complete. Omi, under the influence of the tape, had almost succeeded in dragging Yohji with him on the delivery, but the thought of spending the night in a hotel room alone with a hormonal teenager who believed he wanted hot, passionate sex was too much for Yohji. Now, if Omi had been female, or a certain red-haired man, Yohji'd have seriously reconsidered. It took some light flirting to force Ken into begging Omi to let him go instead of Yohji. Apparently, the boy still remembered Yohji's accidental kiss.

Aya, however, had been Yohji's greatest accomplishment. Not only had he managed to arrange a sleepover at Aya's friend's house, but he had somehow managed to convince an unusually good-natured Ran to let her go.

Yes, Yohji mused as he strode downstairs for a snack before dinner, he was a genius.

Nearly bouncing off the last step in his happiness, Yohji stopped dead in his tracks at the sight that was bestowed upon him. Whether or not he believed in God didn't matter, he was going to go to church every single day for the rest of his life if he could be given _that_ image to wake up to each and every morning... Even after planning this entire day, Yohji never dreamed he'd end up getting such a beautiful view of Ran's firm ass.

Ran stood up from the flower that he was leaning over and turned, almost as if he knew Yohji had been staring at him. "..." it took Yohji a moment to realize that he was still staring at Ran's waist-area and was now treated to somewhat of a better view. But he tore his eyes away anyways. Wouldn't want to indimidate the prey so early in the day.

"Morin', Ran."

"More like, Good afternoon. You sleep like a cow..."

"Ah, you were watching me sleep, Ran?" Yohji winked towards Ran as he sat down with a can of soda. "Didn't know you swung that way."

Ran rolled his eyes as he walked over to the door to pick up the newspaper. Yohji leaned as far out of his seat as he possibly could to catch another glimpse of that beautiful ass. However, due to the fact that he needed to retreat quickly, he accidentally tipped off his chair and found himself in a rather odd position as Ran walked back into the room; not to mention, completely sticky from the soda which had spilled all over him.

Ran gave Yohji a slightly exasperated look as he sat down. "You should clean that up before Omi gets back," he mumbled, flipping open the papers.

"Who knows," Yohji mumbled before he could help himself - more to himself than to Ran, "maybe the kid would actually find this arousing. Wouldn't put it past him."

Ran took a sip of his milk and didn't comment. As Yohji finally pulled himself off the floor, he heard a sputter and a small choking noise from the other side of the newspaper. "Fujim-?"

The atmosphere in the room changed instantly. Ran stood up quickly, knocking over the cup of milk, but not really paying attention. He was shaking horribly and was oddly pale. Silently, he walked towards the door, his heavy footsteps almost echoing throughout the empty apartment. "Where are you going...?"

"Out. For a walk."

Yohji slid on the mess on the floor as he attempted to run after Ran. "Wait, I'll come wi-" He was cut off with the slam of the front door.

-----------

The blast of icy wind brought Ran back to reality and he suddenly wished he hadn't stormed out so fast; or, at least that he'd have had the right mind to bring along a coat. Shivering and lost in thought, he made his way down the steps, trying to make as much distance as possible between him and the newspaper.

Something large and shiny came hurling towards his head, and his brain snapped back into focus just in time to duck. Bending down, he examined the metal object that came so close to making a dent in his head.

"Oi, flower-boy," twitching at the nickname, Ran turned to look up at the only person who could possibly ever call him that. "Be a good little boy and toss those handcuffs back," Schuldig said silkily from his window two stories up, smirking down at Ran.

Before Ran could even properly react, however, something - or rather, somebody - had pressed up behind Schuldig and the orange-haired man was suddenly dangerously close to falling out the window. "Hey! Couldn't you morons wait a few more seconds before screwing the shit out of-" he cut himself off with a small purr. "I like whatever you're doing, Bradly." Schuldig pulled Brad in for a kiss and Ran took the chance to slip away.

The park was empty as he took a seat on one of the benches. He shivered as memories from his past flooded his mind. Before he knew what he was doing, Ran was crying for the first time in years.

-----------

Yohji sighed as he stared outside at the darkened sky. Ran had been out for hours, and he was beginning to worry. Nobody could go outside without a jacket on and survive in this weather for that long... especially not with the thunderstorm that had just begun. However, Yohji didn't know where to start searching for Ran. Grabbing his coat, he made a decision to find the red-haired boy no matter what.

The wind and rain outside blinded Yohji for a moment as he stepped out of the building. He didn't notice the stooped figure sitting on the steps until he was practically _sitting_ on the other man. "RAN! Holy shit, what are you _doing_ outside like this!"

It was as if the other man didn't even hear him. As Yohji leaned in for a closer look, he could have sworn he saw tears rolling down the other man's cheek; though, it was more likely the rain. He sighed and sat down next to Ran's shivering figure. "Ok, here's the deal, I'm going to sit here - not that I like you or anything - and I'm going to freeze to death waiting for you to tell me what's up. And it'll be all your fault." He paused for a reaction and got nothing. "... gee, it's so nice to know people care about my well-being."

Signing, Yohji took a seat on the wet steps, close enough to Ran to hear anything if the red-haired man decided to spill his guts but far enough not to intimidate him. And, he sat there, waiting. The rain seemed to have stopped now, but the wind was starting to pick up. Looking over at Ran, Yohji noticed the soaked man shivering slightly. Sighing, he peeled off his coat. "Remember, if I get sick, it'll be all your fault," he said as he wrapped his coat around Ran's shoulders.

The red-haired man didn't say anything for a while and then, "My parents died three years ago..." he said softly, staring at the ground.

Yohji opened his mouth to make a blunt comment about how he wasn't sure what that had to do anything but caught himself just in time. An image of the newspaper headlines flashed unexpectantly through his mind. Softly, he wrapped his arms around the other man. "In a car accident?" The silence that followed his question confirmed his suspicions. They sat like that for a while, in complete silence.

"Yohji?" The way Ran said his name made the older man shiver. It was so... _naked_. "What happened to your parents?"

Yohji laughed nervously, receiving mixed feelings about the question. On one hand, Ran - the silent, hard-to-reach man - had just opened up to him. On the other hand, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to talk about his family. "Ah, gee..." he said, stalling for time.

"I see."

It was as if a door was shutting and enclosing Yohji in complete darkness. He had to do _something _before the door completely shut in his face. "I... left them. And, haven't talked to them since." He winced a little, but was surprised at how easy the confession came out. "I wasn't the perfect son, see."

Ran snorted, staring straight ahead. For the first time in that day, they shared a pleasant silence. Then, the red-haired man quietly stood up. "Kudoh?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." As Ran turned towards the doors of the apartment, Yohji could have sworn he saw the other man smile. "And, Yohji?"

"Yeah, Ran?"

"Tell _anyone_ about this, and I'll kill you."


End file.
